IMO the least important is the Tablet, still a cool device, but if one had to go, it would be that one in a easy decision. Now which would be next after that? Now your going to have to pry from dead hands. I needs each.

The phone's pretty much just a convenience, but yeah. Cold dead hands, to the laptop and desktop. My tablet's a fun toy, but that's all.

Mr. Tact wrote on May 17, 2014, 11:19:I suspect there is currently a global warming trend, though I'm not convinced how desperate the situation is or that the warming is being significantly exacerbated by humans. I've heard/read both that there is unprecedented melting of ice in Antarctica and a huge build up of ice.

I'd love to hear an intelligent, well moderated debate on the subject. That seems unlikely to happen -- people on the extremes of both sides seem to be overstating their cases. I've seen arguments on either side eviscerated.

One half of Antarctica is losing ice, and the other half is gaining ice. The ice that is being lost outpaces the ice that is being gained.

1badmf wrote on May 16, 2014, 19:00:water isn't a huge problem for the country as a whole; just need the infrastructure to transport it, which i suspect would be cheaper than building dozens of desal plants. we get most of our water adequately from rainfall and runoff and deficits can be made up by transporting excess from areas with high amounts, like the north and NE this winter.

desalination will always be expensive. it's not like it's a new technology that needs to mature. economies of scale will only help a little bit, but if we relied on that california food prices would still be sky high. also climate scientists predict a strong el nino event this winter which means abnormally high rainfall for the SW.

For the southern US fresh water is a massive problem right now and only getting worse. What's more important? Oil companies like Exxon getting 5 billion a year in tax subsidies when they're making 40+ billion a year in profits? Or fresh water and food? The MIC getting close to a trillion dollars a year in tax dollars? Or fresh water and food? Etc. etc. etc. Call me crazy but I'm all for fresh water and affordable food.

Continuing to try to grow all of the nation's food in what we now know is historically a desert is not desirable long term. Desalinization, if we need to go that route, should be a disincentivized stop-gap as food production moves to places that can support it naturally.

jdreyer wrote on May 16, 2014, 13:27:Desalinization is incredibly expensive and energy intensive.

Yes, it is. And the longer we wait as a country to start putting plants and infrastructure down to be able to provide basic water necessities once drought reaches critical levels all over, the more it's going to cost.

A simple prohibition on watering lawns would be wise, even though such a thing is obviously beyond any fucking politician's ability to grasp, but it's a stop-gap measure. The only way to guarantee water 50 years down the road is to start going the desalination route. And since it'll take twenty odd years to get that entire infrastructure in place, the longer we wait, the more critical it will become to put down.

There is a large Californian desalinization plant that was built during the last long drought that was mothballed when the drought abruptly ended. Last I heard was that they're working on getting it set to run.

Creston wrote on May 15, 2014, 11:50:You're also ignoring that if you go to your State's university, you basically pay little to no tuition. If you go to your local community college, you pay no tuition at all. It's only when you want to go out of state, or go to a private university that, yeah, you have to pay huge amounts of money for your education. Whether that's justified or not, and whether those titles are worth the money being charged for them is not a discussion I want to go into.

In short, what you're saying is simply wrong. End of story.

Whoa, whooaaaaaa, this is so wrong. SO fucking wrong. There might be *some* state where this is almost true, but the state universities everywhere I've lived have been ~$10k/yr for tuition alone. Community colleges are about 1/2 to 2/3 of that.

NegaDeath wrote on May 11, 2014, 18:53:The guy sucks at the game, and RPG's in general apparently. He got to the only "town" in the game and didn't properly explore and talk to all the NPC's? At that point in the game there are only 5 people there, lazy. He clearly isn't bothering to read the on screen instructions as he's wasting his effigies by burning them. You can tell he's used to playing games that have mandatory tutorials for everything and UI's that take up half the screen with maps, objectives, directions, etc. Fail.

And one can tell you are angry over someone not agreeing with your opinion. Which is far more FAIL than the review. Who are you to call this guy's experience worth less than your own? Not everyone experiences a game the same way you do and saying that only your way is the right way is beyond absurd and childish.

This review has as much legitimacy to be there as any other.

By the way, to this day Dark Souls 2 simply crashes to a black screen for me at start of the game creates an empty corrupt save and nothing happens. Would be nice if the fucking devs were actually fixing this. So from me DS 2 gets 0/10 points

Is this related to the multiple monitor issue, or are you experiencing something different?

NegaDeath wrote on May 11, 2014, 18:53:The guy sucks at the game, and RPG's in general apparently. He got to the only "town" in the game and didn't properly explore and talk to all the NPC's? At that point in the game there are only 5 people there, lazy. He clearly isn't bothering to read the on screen instructions as he's wasting his effigies by burning them. You can tell he's used to playing games that have mandatory tutorials for everything and UI's that take up half the screen with maps, objectives, directions, etc. Fail.

I'm a veteran Dark Souls and Demon's Souls player, and I've got to admit that I also breezed right past the Emerald Herald on my first playthrough. I didn't realize that I needed to talk to her to level up (or to get my estus flask!!!) until I got to the cardinal tower bonfire.

Thought I'd try Dark Souls before purchasing Dark Souls II. I did not know that sitting at a bonfire respawns enemies on the level, which I find to be utterly pointless grindy bullcrap. ragequit. Now, I was getting into the gameplay and the environments are as cool as advertised.

Questions, 1) does DS II do away with the respawn nonsense? 2) if that was the only part I hated about the first 15 minutes of DS, should I buy DS II, because I'm obviously a filthy casual? Thanks in advance!

Enemies don't respawn in DS2

Enemies do respawn in DS2, but they have limited respawns. They only respawn 10 or 15 times or something. It's kind of an integral part of the whole 'Do it again but better' mantra of the game. Also, that's how you farm for level-up stuff or new weapons or whatever if you're having trouble with an area.

Cutter wrote on May 7, 2014, 14:48:And that's why the justices should only serve a 4 year term so you can get fresh blood in there.

We don't do this because it makes it easier for one party to get a complete hold on all three branches of government. Imagine if Bush or Obama got to appoint the entire Supreme Court.

How do you figure that? They still have to be approved by both sides of the aisle. Just make it 2 left, 2 right and 2 centrists.

From 2001 to 2006ish, both houses of Congress and the presidency were all Republican controlled. Bush would have had free reign to fill the Supreme Court with 9 Scalias/Robertses/Alitos.

From 2009-2010, Obama could have more or less done the same with left-leaning justices, (though I guess you'd ideally try to stagger it, so it'd only be 4 or 5 he'd be able to replace in that time period).

This is part of the checks and balances on the three branches of the US government. The House is highly subject to the zeitgeist--it refreshes every 2 years. The Presidency is a little slower, with 4 year terms. The Senate is pretty resistant to whims that sweep the country, with only a complete refresh staggered out over six years. The SCOTUS is positively glacial in comparison, and *by design*.

Further, this (intentionally) keeps them insulated from backlash against politically-unpopular decisions.

Also, when my son was six and watched the special edition, he said, "It was cool when the Death Star exploded, but that ring looked fake." referring to the CG ring added to make the explosion more "epic" and "cooler."

I tracked down and downloaded these last year some time (so an older version, I think), but they're pretty beautifully restored. It's great watching the 'theatrical' versions of the movies again.

He has a newsletter you can sign up for there, and I got an email the other day saying he was working on an update of ESP next.

I'm amazed at the quality, and I think it really puts Lucas' "it can't be done" excuses to shame.

Nice, great to hear. I think I do recall noting that v2.0 of Star Wars looked quite a bit cleaner than the ESB version (though that was still very nice).

jdreyer wrote on May 4, 2014, 15:31:Man, I'd love to see a modern version of Heretic or Hexen. When will someone KS that?

Yeeeeees. That would be one of my most-wanted things. I would love to see those games redone on a modern engine. I wouldn't even care if the game was a bit modernified, or if it was done like the new Shadow Warrior.

Also, when my son was six and watched the special edition, he said, "It was cool when the Death Star exploded, but that ring looked fake." referring to the CG ring added to make the explosion more "epic" and "cooler."

I tracked down and downloaded these last year some time (so an older version, I think), but they're pretty beautifully restored. It's great watching the 'theatrical' versions of the movies again.

shihonage wrote on May 3, 2014, 00:13:Yes, having taste is a gift and a curse.

It sounds like the people on RPG Codex were pissed off because Wasteland 2 wasn't Fallout 2, whereas the Wasteland fans thought it was fine. So RPG Codex is a bunch of relative newbies thinking they're the old guard.

And then, because inXile is good guys, they made some adjustments to Falloutify it a bit, and that pissed off the Wasteland fans, which made RPG Codex flipflop over to hating it for that reason. So they're just a bunch of petulant children. The official Wasteland 2 thread on RPG Codex is even called the "Butthurt Thread." Even other RPG Codexers realize how stupid their community is.

BIGtrouble77 wrote on May 1, 2014, 15:13:"No work I have ever done has been patented".

Not sure who's in the right here, but this statement is bullshit. Something doesn't have to be patented to claim ownership. If Carmack developed code while working at Zenimax, then they have a possible claim to said code.

Sometimes you simply can't have your cake and eat it too. Once iD was sold, loosely handling these types of IP related collaborations is a dangerous game. That's the price of selling out.

That's it in a nutshell. Regardless how people feel about Zenimax, if they're correct they very much have a very legal leg to stand on. And Carmack and the OVR boys should have known better. You don't have to be a lawyer to understand if you're helping another company while on another company's dime, there's going to be repercussions.

He conceded that the code is owned by Zenimax, but since it's not patented they can't claim ownership of the ideas behind it.